A POIGNANT memory will spur on competitors in a hill race.
The Roseberry Challenge features strong-arm teams racing against the clock carrying someone in a wheelchair up the famous 2,500ft North Yorks Moors incline.
John Marsay, a coach with Middlesbrough Rugby Club, took part in the first race four years ago to raise funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre, near South Bank, Middlesbrough, after his mother was diagnosed with the condition.
John died in May 2000 after a two-year battle against a brain tumour. The race was not held last year, due to foot-and-mouth disease, but on Sunday, when a team from the rugby club will take part, the event will be started by John's widow, Lisa.
The winners will be presented with the John Marsay Memorial Trophy. The lads from the rugby club will compete against two teams put up by Cleveland Police.
Mrs Marsay said: "For the MS Centre to provide a trophy in John's memory is a wonderful tribute and is warmly appreciated by his family and friends as well as myself.
"Along with a five kilometre run in which team-mates of mine in Middlesbrough Rugby Club Ladies team compete, it means his memory will never die."
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